Phantasy Star Online 2 Is Now Available On Xbox One

It's been eight years since the trailer for the Western release of Phantasy Star Online 2 dropped. Back then, Sega announced that it was due out in 2013, but it's only now that the long-awaited online RPG is available to download on Xbox One. There are two special editions priced at $30 and $60 respectively, but the base game is free-to-play--you just need an Xbox Live Gold subscription in order to play online.

Although Sega dropped the trailer eight years ago, it wasn't until last year, when PSO 2 was announced during Microsoft's E3 2019 presentation, that a Western release started looking like a reality. PSO 2 initially launched in Japan in 2012 and continues the original game's formula of mixing futuristic tech and magic in combat. As the name implies, it's a multiplayer-focused variant of the fantasy RPG series, with players able to meet in lobbies, speak through text chat, and engage in raid quests with up to 12 players. The original Phantasy Star Online is widely regarded as one of the most influential games of all time for what it did for online console play in Japan, pushing the feature in the East when no other games were.

PSO 2 is enhanced for Xbox One X with 4K support and an expanded user interface display size. Game Pass Ultimate subscribers in the US and Canada will also receive some special PSO 2 DLC as part of the service's new Perks. These include a special content bundle, which includes unique emotes, in-game cosmetics including an Xbox jacket, a gold ticket Mission Pass and in-game currency with a Meseta Crystal.

Despite launching on Xbox One, the online action RPG is not exclusive to the Xbox platform, according to Xbox boss Phil Spencer. There's no word on whether PSO 2 will eventually make its way to PlayStation 4 or Nintendo Switch in the future, but a PC version is slated for a late May release, exclusively on the Microsoft Store.